May 2008 — News
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Alliance Weighs In on Microsoft Interoperability in Education
"This final review confirmed that there remains no compelling case for deployment. It also confirmed that the use of Office 2007 could adversely affect document interoperability between the school or college and the home environment," the report stated. Further: "... [W]e advise that no widespread deployment of Office 2007 should take place until schools and colleges are confident that they have in place mechanisms to deal with the interoperability and potential 'digital divide' issues that the review has identified. To do otherwise risks introducing unnecessary complexities and restrictions on the choices available to students, teachers and families when exchanging documents between home and school, and potentially introducing additional financial burdens for parents."
OpenForum Europe, a non-profit organization that advocates open-source software, also chimed in today. Said Graham Taylor, OFE chief executive, "As the Becta report makes clear, such impediments would have the likely effect of limiting software choice and substantially raising prices for students, teachers, and parents alike. The lack of interoperability denies students and families access to free or low-cost software alternatives, including open source. To date, Microsoft has promised ODF support via a translator tool, but as the Becta report makes clear, user intervention is required and the results are less than satisfactory. The translator is no substitute for the native ODF support that customers are demanding."
However, a Microsoft representative told us via e-mail today that the company is committed to interoperability and that it will work toward a resolution of the issues raised by Becta and the ODF Alliance.
"Microsoft is deeply committed to education and interoperability. We believe that more and more schools are upgrading to Windows Vista and Office 2007 as they increasingly recognise the benefits of embracing technology to transform teaching and learning. We have funded the development of tools to promote interoperability between Office 2007 and products based on the ODF file format. We will continue to work with Becta and the Commission in a cooperative manner to resolve these issues."
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About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.
Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.
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